A writer analyzes the popularity and success of Star Wars by considering its contemporary political movements and the narrative created by Americans.

A man reflects on his time as a newspaper boy during World War I. Overwhelmed by the horror of the headlines, he must confront harsh truths about morality during wartime.

A man looks back on his father-in-law's life after he passes away, thinking of the many jobs he held and his military service.

A middle-aged American woman living abroad feels alone and out of place, so she seeks company from the local church and the Mothers' Union held there. However, as an atheist, the uptight nature of the church and its members leave the woman feeling unsettled.

A Bosnian journalist visits America during the Bosnian ethnic cleansing and moves into a dirty Chicago apartment with a woman he once met and her on-and-off boyfriend. He takes on a series of humiliating jobs and tries to avoid thinking about the unknown fate of his parents.

An American couple’s dislike of their German neighbors escalates into suspicion when World War II begins across the sea.

A woman returns home to her family having just slept with another man. At dinner, her son gets into an argument with his father about their privilege. As the narrative moves back to the time they spent abroad in Nigeria, Burma and Ecuador, fractures in the family life are revealed.

In a future where the U.S. is in a state of decline and Japan is the most powerful nation on Earth, an American salesman attempts to sell American landmarks to a Japanese tycoon. An American salesman attempts to sell of his country's landmarks, from the Statue of Liberty to Yankee Stadium, to a wealthy Japanese mogul in a future where the US is broke and Japan is in charge.

California has seceded from America, and Molly and her daughter Phoebe run a bookstore that straddles the troubled border of the two countries. When outright war breaks out, Molly and Phoebe must protect their customers - American and Californian alike - but the customers are not all willing to get along.

A man recalls a friend whose marriage dissolved in 1914 Bosnia around the time the archduke of Austria was assassinated.